Patent Office To Re-Examine Riverbed Patents In Silver Peak Suit

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will re-examine two patents held by Riverbed Technology as part of a lawsuit between Riverbed and smaller WAN optimization rival Silver Peak Systems, the companies said Tuesday.

Silver Peak said the USPTO granted its request to re-examine Riverbed patents 7,428,573 and 7,849,134, which address elements of Riverbed's core WAN optimization and acceleration platforms.

Riverbed accused Silver Peak of infringing those patents, as well as a third patent, in a suit filed in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware in June 2011. Riverbed is attempting to obtain a permanent injunction against Silver Peak.

Riverbed later Tuesday responded to Silver Peak's statement by saying the USPTO's move is a standard procedure.

"Reexamination requests are often made, as they were in this instance, by parties accused of infringing the subject patents," Brett Nissenberg, Riverbed's general counsel and senior vice president, said in a statement. "And the USPTO has historically granted well over 90 percent of these reexamination requests, meaning initial action has become somewhat routine."

"Unfortunately, Silver Peak's most creative efforts seem to be concentrated in PR and blogging rather than its products," Nissenberg added.

The lawsuit is scheduled to reach trial in September.

Riverbed dominates the WAN optimization space, but Silver Peak was in 2012 named to the leaders' quadrant in Gartner's influential Magic Quadrant for WAN Optimization Controllers -- part of a slew of strong notices for the company that included an updated channel program and ongoing partner recruitment.

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